Would Stratton sack Schenectady Police Department?

That’s what the mayor of the Electric City says he is willing to do as he confronts a seemingly never ending string of suspensions and arrests among the ranks of the city police force.

Mayor Brian U. Stratton

Mayor Brian U. Stratton announced late last night that he was consulting with Attorney General Andrew Cuomo about how the city could disband the troubled 166-member force, which has seen 15 different officers face criminal or internal affairs charges over the past decade. The allegations have ranged from drug dealing to sleeping on the job. And that doesn’t include a U.S. Justice Department probe that found officers deprived citizens of their civil rights.

Some observers will say Stratton is simply saber rattling as he tries to stop the misbehavior and make dramatic changes to the police union’s notoriously strong contract. No doubt others will question the wisdom of eliminating the local police force and switching to another agency, sheriff’s department? State Police? countywide police force? in a city were crime and violence are a part of life.

But no matter what, Stratton has turned up the heat in his war with the Police Department, whose members control the county’s Conservative Party. Other Schenectady Democrats have scrambled to curry favor with the party and win it’s third-party endorsement, but Stratton has twice gotten elected without the party’s support. It will be interesting to see whether Democrats on the city council or the county legislature back him.